Clinton comes to Dutchess to give local Democrats a lift

HYDE PARK: President Clinton came to town to give a pep talk to young Democratic leaders yesterday.

He came. He grinned. His motorcade tied up traffic. And he schmoozed with everyone he could get his hands on.

President Bill Clinton appeared to have as good a time traveling through Dutchess County yesterday as the thousands who lined parking lots and highways to catch a handshake or glimpse of the president during his third trip to the mid-Hudson region.

Clinton was in the area to give a pep talk to members of the Democratic Leadership Council at the FDR Library in Hyde Park. And if he had some serious fun speaking, he appeared to have even more fun getting there.

He arrived at Dutchess County Airport in the Town of Poughkeepsie later than expected in a scaled-back version of Air Force One small enough to land at the tiny airport. The president ordered his stretch Lincoln limo to stop when he caught sight of hundreds of people who had gathered in the airport parking lot.

Matt and Yvonne Devlin of Poughkeepsie were among the waiting crowd. They said they saw the event as a chance to see a little history in the making.

"Matt graduated from Marist yesterday, and this is just a continuation of the celebration," Yvonne Devlin said. Later, they got to shake hands with Clinton.

Smiling and relaxed, Clinton worked his way along the edge of the throng, at one point pausing for nearly 20 minutes to discuss preserving Social Security and the importance of a proposed trade bill with China.

Then it was off to Hyde Park. Thousands of people stood waving and watching along Route 9 as the motorcade flew through every light and intersection in its path. Less-enthralled motorists intent on a Sunday shopping trip found themselves unexpected observers of the spectacle.

Clinton's speech before the Democratic Leadership Council was a pep talk during which the audience was urged to "think."

"Thinking is a big and under-utilized part of public life," the president told more than 100 members of the DLC.

While saying nothing publicly about his wife's Senatorial campaign or her former opponent Rudolph Giuliani's withdrawal from that race, he gave Vice President Al Gore one of his most detailed and ringing endorsements to date.

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